Chandigarh: Jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria’s mother and his cousin were shot dead in Batala town of Punjab’s Gurdaspur district Thursday night.
The sensational incident took place at around 9.30 pm on busy Qadian road in Batala when unidentified assailants opened fire at gangster’s mother Harjit Kaur, a former sarpanch of village Bhagwanpur, and another person, identified as Karanvir Singh, said to be a her nephew, accompanying her in a car.
Police said that the assailants fired multiple rounds from point-blank range after the two got into their vehicle parked outside their residence. They sustained bullet injuries in face, chest and stomach and while Karanjet died on the spot, Harjit Kaur, succumbed to her injuries on her way to the hospital in neighbouring Amritsar district.
The rival Bambiha gang has claimed responsibility for the killing. Police said that efforts are on to nab the accused and ascertain the motive behind the crime.
However, according to other reports, Thursday’s killings were part of ongoing rivalry between the gang and claimed the responsibility for the killings saying that in the said attack the gangster's cousin Karanveer was the target as now he ran the Bhagwanpuria’s gang.
Reports also said that the killings were in retaliation for the killing of Gurpreet alias Gora Bariyar, a member of Bambiha gang, who was killed in May this year, allegedly by Bhagwanpuria gang members.
Bhagwanpuria who was in Punjab police custody in connection with the 2022 murder of Sidhu Moosewala but was also held in March this year in a drug case following which he was shifted from Bathinda Central Jail to Silchar Jain in Assam. In all, he faces 128 cases including murder, extortion to drug trafficking and Arms Act, registered against him and is also said to be mentor of another notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Lawrence Bishnoi-Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang had killed Moosewala to avenge the killing of their friend and Youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera by Bambiha gang in 2021.
